a tree grows in delano. an introduction.

i have always been a bookworm.  i blame grandma bea.  blame is a harsh word but really, she is the reason why i love books.  grandma bea was a preschool teacher and later a preschool director which meant i had my very own in-home educational entertainment growing up.  grandma bea was like pbs, sprout, and nick jr rolled into one. we sang songs, watched puppets shows, did arts and crafts and most importantly read books.

i wasn't a young super reader, like matilda or scout in "to kill a mockingbird", kids who learned how to read before entering school.  i learned at school.  while subbing for a first grade class i was reunited with the first book i ever read.  (don't judge, i didn't learn how to read until first grade) the book was "sally wore a red dress and henry wore green sneakers."  looking back, i didn't technically read but memorized the sequence of the story, using the pictures as a hint for what character and clothing was next.  in further analysis (using my SCORE! educational centers background), i learned how to read based on sight not phonetics (to this day, i still suck at sounding out words).  i believe this was the school of thought back in the late 80s for reading education.  but back to me the bookworm.

once i started reading, there was no stopping me.  like ray bradbury once wrote, "i ate them like salad, books were my sandwich for lunch, my tiffin and dinner and my midnight munch."  my family always made sure that i never went hungry.  my auntie tracey always supplied me with blank checks for the elementary school book fair, so that i could buy whatever my heart desired and our mall visits always included a crawling through the kid tunnel at waldenbooks.  grandma bea took me to the library to check out books and of course, signed me up every summer for the reading club.  the photo above was taken one of those summers.  i don't recall the theme  but i'm going to assume that it was something ghoulish.  and yes i know.  that outfit is killer, i wish i still had it though my muffin top would not look sexy in those biker shorts.

as a kid, the library was one of my favorite places to go.  so much that i used to force my sister jill to play library with me.  i made her a card and laid out my books in a square in front of the couch and had her check out books from me.  thinking back i hope this only occupied like 15 minutes of our playtime, if not poor jill.  as i grew up, the library stopped being a place i went to, i have no memories of going there while a tween or a teen.  at ucla, i would find myself in powell for the occasional nap or last minute reading before class; the only time actual studying went on was during midterms or finals.  (side random trivia note:  ray bradbury wrote "fahrenheit 451" in the basement of powell.)  the santa monica library became a destination after i discovered their friends of library bookstore, but book checking out was never an activity i engaged in.  also as clarification, i didn't stop reading books, i just stopped checking them out.

then in september 2011,  i decided to visit my old stomping ground aka the delano library.  i had a personal mission to read all the classics and felt it was better to check them out from the library at no cost and then invest in the ones that i really loved.  i would read all the books i should have in high school and determine whether or not they were really worth it.  as a side bonus, i would also save money, i realized what limited my reading was whether or not i wanted to spend a certain amount on a book, my reading was based on what bargain books i could find.  (sorry but i'm cheap, i'm a good jewish wife in the making.) and the wonderful thing i discovered is even though delano is a small town, i have access to all the books in the san joaquin valley and can request them without a fee!  (people in delano reading this, please take advantage of this.)  since than i have checked out and read about 58 books, classics and also some contemporary reads (based on recommendations from flavorpill).  (58 sounds impressive but grandma bea has read like 3 times that, i also check out books for her.)  i toyed with the idea of starting a blog about it.  and am now doing it.  58 books later.  better late than never.  so please know that while i get caught up it will be a mixed of things i just finished reading and have read before.  i will make sure that my first post is the first book i read but be prepared for chaos after that.  i do not consider myself a good reviewer but think i think good thoughts, well interesting thoughts so that is what this blog will be.  just my musings on what i have read.

and yes, the blog is a betty smith reference.  i, like little francie nolan love reading and love the library.  though she vowed to read every book in her library, i vow only to read as many as i can.